Nordic Monitor: Turkey set up spy network in Europe with EU funds – Hiding millions of euros in front companies

Hundreds of millions of euros of the 10 billion euros allocated by the European Union to support Turkey’s accession path are believed to have been funneled by Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government to fund spying operations across Europe, according to a report by Nordic Monitor.The funds allocated through the EU’s Pre-Accession Assistance Instrument since Turkey was granted candidate country status were originally intended to support political and administrative reforms aimed at bringing the country into line with European standards.Between 2014 and 2024, Turkey received €4 billion of the total amount, and in the current budget cycle, Turkey is set to receive a significant portion of the €14.32 billion earmarked for pre-accession assistance between 2021 and 2027.However, the Nordic Monitor, citing confidential sources, reports that some of these funds were secretly channelled into covert operations carried out in EU member states. Both the Turkish Interior Ministry and Foreign Ministry allegedly used millions of euros of the Mechanism’s funds to support intelligence gathering activities against EU countries – either within EU borders or by targeting EU diplomats serving in Turkey.The mechanism used to conceal the shifting of funds was designed to appear legitimate. Shell companies and organizations and their executives were used to “disguise” the espionage funding as support for Turkey’s European course. These entities issued fictitious invoices and maintained falsified accounting records to conceal the nature of their spending.On June 16, 2025, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakcan Fidan revealed in a letter to the Turkish parliament that the foreign ministry spent €339.9 million of European funds between 2014 and 2024, while the interior ministry used €327.9 million during the same period.In his letter, Fiddan does not specify how these funds were used. According to sources cited by Nordic Monitor, the money, originally intended for administrative reform, capacity building, and harmonization with the acquis communautaire, was instead channeled to spy networks operating through Turkish diplomatic missions.The publication notes that Fidan, who was the former head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Service, has completely restructured the Foreign Ministry since taking office in the summer of 2023. He has placed several intelligence officials in top positions in the ministry and expanded the role of the Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, turning Turkey’s embassies and consulates into intelligence operations centers.Under his leadership, a new unit called the General Directorate of Diplomatic Security was also created. Officially, its mission is to enhance the security of Turkey’s approximately 260 diplomatic missions around the world. The paper stresses that in practice, this unit acts as a front for sending additional agents abroad and receives orders directly from Fidan.The new directorate has also assumed responsibility for guarding foreign embassies in Turkey – a responsibility previously held by the General Directorate of Protocol in cooperation with local police. The change gives Fidan a pretext to step up surveillance operations of foreign diplomatic missions inside Turkish territory.Fidan’s aggressive strategy to expand intelligence services comes at a time when President Erdogan has significantly reduced his ministry’s budget. Suspecting that Fidan has ambitions to succeed him – a role Erdogan prefers to reserve for his son, Nejmetin Bilal Erdogan – the president has nearly halved the MFA’s share of the state budget, from 0.4-0.5 percent in previous years to 0.289 percent in 2024 and 0.284 percent in 2025.If mid-year supplemental appropriations are excluded, the share is even lower. For example, in 2024, the MFA received 31.4 billion Turkish liras (about 900 million euros) from the total state budget of 14.7 trillion liras (about $424 billion), or just 0.21%.To compensate for these cuts, Fidan has increasingly turned to EU funds to finance his spying agenda.Another key player in Turkey’s covert operations is the Intelligence Directorate of the General Security Directorate, which oversees a wide network of agents. The Interior Ministry sends police officers abroad under the guise of securing embassies and consulates, many of whom also serve as liaisons for law enforcement issues. In reality, however, they act as undercover agents.What are the objectives of the surveillance?The Nordic Monitor goes on to describe the moves Erdogan has made in recent years and how Europe seems to be aware of the mismanagement of European funds.It even mentions who Turkey is targeting through the surveillance: ‘Over the past ten years, the Erdogan government has made extensive use of these intelligence officers to spy on EU countries, with a particular focus on Turkish diaspora communities or foreign embassies in Turkey. Political dissidents, journalists, NGOs and members of the Gülen movement have been targeted for such surveillance, particularly in countries such as Germany, France, Sweden, Austria and the Netherlands.Even though the EU is aware of the mismanagement of European funds by the Turkish government and pro-government organizations known for their anti-NATO and anti-European positions, it has not taken any substantial action. Brussels has not held the Turkish authorities responsible, nor has it imposed conditions to prevent future abuses.A key reason for the EU’s silence is the so-called “migration card” held by Erdogan. By controlling the flow of irregular migrants to the EU via Turkey, Erdogan has extracted significant concessions from Brussels. The EU, fearing a new migrant crisis, has prioritized immediate security and managing flows at the expense of enforcing democratic standards.Amid a climate of growing instability in both Europe and the Middle East, Brussels seems reluctant to break with Turkey, a NATO member state with the alliance’s second-largest military. EU leaders seek to maintain a working partnership with Ankara, even if it means turning a blind eye to the authoritarian nature of the Erdogan regime, which continues to violate fundamental rights, suppress dissent, and violate the rule of law.At a time when European taxpayers’ money is being used to undermine civil liberties and democratic standards both in Turkey and within the EU, the Union seems willing to sacrifice transparency and accountability on the altar of strategic pragmatism.” The post Nordic Monitor: Turkey set up spy network in Europe with EU funds – Hiding millions of euros in front companies appeared first on ProtoThema English.